Russian Satellite Crashes into Pacific

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A dead Russian military satellite that circled the Earth for more
than 15 years has plunged into a watery grave in the Pacific
Ocean, according to Russian news reports.

The military communications satellite, called Molniya 1-89, fell
to Earth in a weekend death dive on Saturday (April 7), according
to Russia's Ria Novosti news agency.

According to an early analysis, the satellite's remains likely
crashed somewhere in the Pacific at about 3:17 a.m. Moscow time
(0017 GMT), a Russian space agency official told Ria
Novosti.

The 1.6-ton Molniya 1-89 satellite was part of a fleet of
communications satellites used for Russia's military services.
The satellite series was replaced in 2006 by the newer
Meridian-class spacecraft.

The death plunge of the Molniya 1-89 spacecraft is the latest of
several dead satellites that have re-entered Earth's atmosphere
and met fiery demises.

In March, the wayward Russian communications satellites
Express-AM4 fell to Earth after spending months in the wrong
orbit. The satellite's fall was lamented by one company, Polar
Broadband, Ltd., which had hoped to broker a last-minute deal
with Russian space officials to repurpose the satellite to aid
researchers in Antarctica.

The descent of Express-AM4 followed the January re-entry of the
failed Russian Mars moon probe Phobos-Grunt, as well as the 2011
crashes of NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite and
Germany's X-ray space observatory ROSAT.

Unlike Express-AM4 and Phobos-Grunt, which were failed space
missions, the UARS and ROSAT satellites were successful probes
that had long ago accomplished their missions and were expected
to destroy themselves upon re-entry.